1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telephone hang-up cup having a latch member and, more particularly, relates to a telephone hang-up cup having a latch member loaded by a straight spring.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical telephone handset 5 held in place by a hang-up cup 10. Previous hang-up cups for telephone handsets contained many parts. Not only were each of these parts expensive to machine, but the parts were also expensive to assemble because of the multiple assembly steps necessary.
For example, the "DYNA T.A.C.TM. Cellular Mobile Telephone, Model T19ATA8822AE," Instruction Manual, Motorola, Inc., Aug. 31, 1983 discloses a hang-up cup having a latch mechanism. The latch mechanism requires at least four screws, a machine bracket, a spacer, at least three arms, a guide, and a torsion spring. Each of these parts requires careful machining. Assembly of these many parts also requires much time and skill. U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,436 issued to Jarvela et al. discloses a telephone hang-up cup requiring many parts. Two screws are used to attach a latch support bracket encasing a torsional spring, two slidable plate members, a latch member, magnet, and adhesive pad. Each of these parts is expensive to manufacture and assemble. U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,034 issued to Errichiello et al. and Motorola Technical Developments, Volume 3, March 1983, pages 8 and 9 disclose other hang-up cup arrangements requiring torsion springs, levers and arms which are expensive to manufacture and assemble.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/023,996 filed Mar. 1, 1993 to Jeffrey F. Kurgan, Paul J. Kudrna and Frank Annerino, and entitled "Telephonic Support Receptacle and Method Therefor", discloses a hang-up cup for telephone handset. Two bar members having rack-type gear teeth, a spur gear having pinion-type teeth and a screw are used to operate a latch member connected to an end of each bar member.
FIG. 2 illustrates a previous hang-up cup having a smaller number of parts. A latch member 20 was held in place by a piece of punched and formed spring metal 30. The spring metal 30 served to apply a bias on the latch member 20. Two screws 35 were used to fasten the spring metal to a housing of the hang-up cup.
FIG. 3 illustrates another previous hang-up cup having two springs 32 and 34 and two buttons 15 and 16. When the two buttons 15 and 16 are pressed, screw 22 moves outward along a slot 19 in bar members 17 and 18. The outward movement of screw 22 causes outward movement of a latch member against an inward force applied against the latch member by the spring 32. The other spring 34 is hooked into holes in the ends of the bar members 17 and 18. The spring 34 applies a force against the bar members 17 and 18, also causing an inward bias against the latch member via the screw 22. These assemblies, however, were also difficult to manufacture and assemble.